At the end of the season there was a report that Jeff Francoeur would seek a three year deal and that the Mets were actually entertaining the idea. This would forgo his last two years of arbitration and his first year of free agency.The answer as to why Francoeur would do this is easy, job security but for the Mets it's not so clear. There are two ways the Mets could be looking at it: 1) They could see him as the real deal and pay him slightly over arbitration value with a reasonable price in his first year of free agency. The savings comes in not surrendering him a big pay out in his first year of free agency.2) If the Mets are financially struggling then they could back load the deal, essentially taking a loan out from their own player. Getting him at a discount for the next two years and then a size able increase in the third year...It seems like a no brainer to offer Frenchy arbitration but his true long term value is still in question. Sabernomics tries to value Frenchy if ...
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